I don't know how this is possible but my recording of last week's "Minority Report" on ABC (San Diego) looks much worse than my friend's. I thought that ABC 'HQ' did the film-transfer and then sent the HD signal to all the locals, who then broadcast the identical file. My friend thinks that ABC sends out a higher-than-HD digital file which each local station then converts to their own 'personal' version of ATSC. If so, this just goes to prove that KGTV (San Diego's ABC station) needs to buy new equipment! They've already proven to have terrible reliability - losing the HD transmission on a seemingly regular basis during prime-time.

FYI - my friend also suggested that my local transmission might not be at full bandwidth, but it is (according to HDTV2mpeg). And as far as I know they never did multicasting during the elections.

I can post screenshot comparisons but only if a moderator gives the ok...

Originally posted by sdsalseroMy friend thinks that ABC sends out a higher-than-HD digital file which each local station then converts to their own 'personal' version of ATSC. If so, this just goes to prove that KGTV (San Diego's ABC station) needs to buy new equipment! They've already proven to have terrible reliability - losing the HD transmission on a seemingly regular basis during prime-time.

The bit about the higher-than-HD thing is supposed to be true. The typical network feed is supposed to be something like 45 Mpbs and the affiliates use their own equipment to rate-reduce it to suit their own purposes. (They might be using some of their bandwidth for multicasting or datacasting).

I haven't found KGTV to be particularly unreliable and their programming has been some of the most beautiful HDTV that I've seen--certainly the most beautiful broadcast stuff. Lost is breathtaking and, before the series ended, NYPD Blue was extremely good as well. The only other thing I watch on the channel is Boston Legal, which is decent.

Quote:

FYI - my friend also suggested that my local transmission might not be at full bandwidth, but it is (according to HDTV2mpeg). And as far as I know they never did multicasting during the elections.

When you run HDTVtoMPEG2 on a ransport stream, what information does it give you about the average rate of the program that you extract? The transport stream itself has to be padded out to 19.4 Mbps, as per ATSC standards.

CPanther95,
I didn't mean this to be a San Diego-specific thread. Should I repost it, and maybe exclude the reference to San Diego?

Mike,
HDTVtoMPEG2 reports 18 MBps, i.e., full bandwidth. As for KGTV, they had transmission problems at the beginning of "Minority Report" (and it looks noticeably worse than my friend's copy) and I really couldn't tell the number of times I sat down to watch and record a show or movie and they screwed it up, causing me to cancel my recording and switch to something else to watch. I can specifically remember them screwing-up "Indiana Jones", as well as many of the episodes in the first season of "Alias". Granted, these last 2 examples are from a couple of years ago. But the issues with "Minority Report" are just all too familiar.

And what's up with this thread??? I specifically did a search of the forum for "san diego" and it didn't find this thread! Maybe it just didn't make it onto the first screen's-worth of results or something...

I've been logging rough bitrate estimates with calculations based on cable DVR recording filesizes (about 800 hours worth at this point). The bitrate that I got for Minority Report was 17.78 Mbps--close enough. It's always nice to get a little comparative data from someone recording OTA.

Did anyone have Digital 5.1 audio problems with "24" on FOX XETV last night? I watch FOX OTA. I just got my 4221 antenna connected last night (I'm in Mira Mesa, pretty high up), watching "24" in glorious HD for the first time, but the audio was cutting out about twice per second for the first 40 minutes. I could still understand the dialog, and the last 20 minutes was great with no dropouts. Video was never a problem, and all other local channels OK OTA (the BBall game was spectacular in HD). If nobody had this audio problem with FOX last night, then I may have a reception or STB problem. Thanks.

I live in the NE part of the county and get nothing OTA. At CES I asked Directv how they decided who got the first local HD channels. He suggested that whoever made the most noise, might be first. I encourage all Directv members to call and request(or complain) for local HD.

Just a bump to make sure we're out there. I went through all major sats, and ended up with Adelphia because of their Moxy, but I'm not happy at all with the lack of HD content. Now that E* acquired V*, I wanted to go back to E*, but they'll whack me with a 2 yr commit and none of the deals "new" clients get. Anyone found a workaround yet? If I can't get a deal, I'll wait til after the MPEG 4 conversion, who knows, since TW bought Adelphia, maybe I can stay put, and keep the crap off my roof.
I'm in La Costa, anyone have a better source for HD???
Thanx,
Joel

I've just moved from a 2nd-floor apt to a 1-story house here in La Mesa. I used to get all the local stations, with 8 and 10 as the strongest. Now, I'm on top of a ridge and I get a stronger signal on everything ... everything BUT 8 and 10. For the two of them, I only get 40% "quality" in my HDTV's diagnostic mode. My antenna is a 3-ft bowtie (dipole UHF) and it's aimed right at Mt Soledad. It's very strange, as if there's some major source of interference between me and the transmitters.

Anyone have any ideas I can try?

I'll probably try aiming it 'off' and see if that helps but I already had it aimed too far south initially and thought that correcting the aim would help; it didn't.

Or maybe I need to switch to a Yagi-style antenna? That's more directional but it has less sensitivity in the UHF range (which is all I'm concerned with).

After about 2 weeks it's back. Receiving around 97% in San Marcos near Palomar College with a US Digital receiver. Antennaweb claims I won't get anything, but I've got all San Diego and Mexico stations.

Hi guys,
Can y'all help me with a decision... I'm trying to choose between Cox 'Digital' (Ha) cable and Directv. Before my recent HD TV purchase I was a two-tuner Directv bigot... loved it. But $799 was too much to go hidef with them, and I heard about the mpeg4 and couldn't stomach the thought of being stung twice. I'm surrounded by hills higher than me so won't get HD OTA.

Can folks chime in on whether I've got my facts straight... especially the diff in std def quality and the 'free upgrade' scenario that Directtv are offering... is there a catch?

a) StandardDef looks much better from Directv than Cox.

b) Both have paltry HD content today.

c) Cox has 'video on demand', but nothing hidef (anything coming?)

d) Directv has 150 HD channels coming, but probably only spring next year.

e) The HD tuner will need to be replaced at that point. Will my other 'standard def' tuners need to be replaced too?

f) in the meantime... I can get hidef ABC,CBS,NBC,PBS over directv

g) When I called to cancel my Directv subscription... they offered me:-
- A HiDef 2 tuner Tivo box with install and dish for $500.
- Free upgrade next spring of all equipment needed to get the 150 channels.

h) The extra charge for Directv HD today is (9.99 I think). Will there be an additional charge as I move to that new tuner?

i) Cox's HD is superb, but I'm done watching Padres. I read that Directv HD is lower quality... is that true.

I just went through the same debate. Do I go for Cox with HD locals for sure but crappy SD (from what I hear) and lousy all around customer service, or Direct TV which I've been pleased with to date but uncertain local timeframe and certain equipment purchase required. I went with Direct TV, and the deal mentioned on this thread helped...

Here in my apartment complex, they just decided to drop Time Warner for cable and internet in favor of DirecTV and SBC Yahoo DSL. Can you believe that? They are calling this an "improvement" for the residents and more cost effective. What a crock! I have until early oct to switch over, unfortunately my lease goes way longer than that. Beware if any of you go and rent from any properties belonging to Prime Group!

So I made the jump from Cox HD dual tuner DVR to HD Directtivo with an OTA antenna.

findings:-

- OTA ...? Nada. Zip. Nothing. I have hills all around me.

- StdDef... noticably better than Cox 'digital', both on my std 27" Sony and my 45" Sharp LCD. The viewing experience is still not 'great' by any means.

- HiDef... no locals or 'national' equivalents... keeping my fingers crossed that they give me the west coast feeds.

- HiDef... signal on TV looks noticably WORSE than Cox's HD channels. Films look grainy and 'motion' looks 'blocky'. e.g. when you look at those Athens olympics reruns... stationary images look GREAT... but when the camera zooms or pans... it loses the 'looking through glass' magic and you see artifacts. I'm wondering... am I the only person seeing this?

DirectTV HD TiVo and OTA antenna were installed at my house yesterday. The antenna installed was a Winegard GS 1100. I'm in Encinitas, so I was figuring that this unamplified antenna with claimed 25 mile max range would only get me CBS and ABC, but somehow I'm getting NBC also and even FOX 6 (40 miles away).

However, FOX dropped out a couple of times last night, so I'm thinking of trying the amplified version of this antenna, the GS 2200. I've seen this online for $40, I figure that it's worth a shot. But, I'm happy with my $50 spent on DirectTV's OTA antenna.

Also to my surprise, OTA SD broadcast looks better than DirectTV digital sat locals. Weird. I've got some playing around to do with picture settings, but I couldn't get the sat feed to match OTA SD on any channel.

I live in PQ area w/ surrounding hills and get terrible OTA reception. I can barely get ABC and CBS and have never got a blink from any of the other stations. Has anyone ever written to the local stations asking for waivers so that Directv could grant you access to the LA broadcasts?

I am living in L.A. and getting great OTA HDTV, but, I am moving to Santa Barbara and they have next to none.

I record a lot of HD using PCI HDTV capture cards and I discovered that I cannot get the L.A. stations n Santa Barbara due to the terrain, but, I am close enough
My question is: what are the geographic and longitude/latitude locations of the OTA HDTV/DTV transmitters in: Tijuana BC, Mount Miguel and Mt. Solidad.

You can readily obtain info by using the FCC's TV Database Query:http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/audio/tvq.html
Simply enter "San Diego" or "Tijuana" for the desired city and you'll get a summary list.
You don't have to enter anything in other search fields if you don't want to.

Alternatively, at the bottom you can search for all stations within a specified radius,
listed in order of increasing channel number.

The fol. site will also list stations by either distance, direction or channel:http://www.2150.com/broadcast/
Be sure to check boxes to see analog stations and new change proposals.